Competitiveness and openness, while not given headline status, has nevertheless been included as a supplementary dimension because of its relevance to whether life in Australia is getting better.

Over the previous decade there has been a moderate decrease in real unit labour costs and this is likely to have had a positive effect on Australia's international competitiveness.

During the same period, the trade weighted index (the value of the Australian dollar relative to the currencies of our major trading partners) decreased between 1999 and 2001, increased until 2008 and then decreased.

Unless otherwise noted, content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia Licence together with any terms, conditions and exclusions as set out in the website Copyright notice. For permission to do anything beyond the scope of this licence and copyright terms contact us.